While Pablo Quintanilla returns with a stage win on stage 5, Ross Branch reclaims the Dakar lead – Joan Barreda Bort crashes
Five of twelve stages have been completed at the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, the participants traveled from Hofuf to Shubaytah in the “Empty Quarter”, the huge sandy desert in the southern part of the country
In the motorcycle classification, Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) took the day’s victory, while Ross Branch (Hero) reclaimed the overall lead with the sixth-fastest time. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda), who started as overall leader, missed out on the top 10 of the day’s classification and dropped back to second place in the overall rally standings.
At the start of Wednesday’s stage, Bruno Santos (Husqvarna) initially led the field. In the dunes, however, Quintanilla struck back after two difficult days. The Chilean took victory on the day. It is Honda’s third in the current Dakar Rally.
Quintanilla’s Honda team colleague Adrien van Beveren finished second, 37 seconds behind. Toby Price (KTM) was third fastest at the stage finish in Shubayatah. Tobias Ebster (KTM) also finished the day in the top 10 as tenth fastest.
Meanwhile, Joan Barreda Bort (Hero) recorded a crash in the “Empty Quarter”. The Spaniard reached the stage finish more than ten minutes behind and had to receive medical treatment in the bivouac.
According to information from the team, Barreda hit his body on the handlebars of his bike after an unsuccessful jump in the dunes and complained of pain, including in his chest area.
Next up for the Dakar participants is the 48-hour stage, which is being held for the first time. On Thursday and Friday, the “Empty Quarter” will be crossed in a long loop, with no single bivouac for all participants to spend the night.
Several temporary bivouacs have been set up. Which bivouac is used depends on how far each participant has come by 4 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. From there, the race continues the next morning. The finish of the two-day marathon stage is Shubaytah again on Friday evening
Result of the 5th stage (Top 10):
01st Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) – 1:32:53 hours
02. Adrien van Beveren (Honda) +0:37 minutes
03. Toby Price (KTM) +1:39
04. Daniel Sanders (GasGas) +2:58
05th Mason Klien (Kove) +3:01
06. Ross Branch (Hero) +3:42
07. Ricky Brabec (Honda) +3:48
08. Stefan Svitko (KTM) +4:10
09th Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) +4:22
10th Tobias Ebster (KTM) +4:33
Overall standings after 5 of 12 stages (Top 10):
01st Ross Branch (Hero) – 19:05:03 hours
02. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) +1:14 minutes
03. Ricky Brabec (Honda) +3:47
04. Adrien van Beveren (Honda) +18:10
05. Kevin Benavides (KTM) +21:17
06. Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) +26:47
07. Toby Price (KTM) +31:36
08. Daniel Sanders (GasGas) +37:44
09. Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna) +38:52
10th Martin Michek (KTM) +39:52